Marcia Dunn
Updated ,first published
Houston: A view of the moon now filling their windows, the Artemis II astronauts have kicked off their lunar fly-by, taking in magnificent views of the far side never before witnessed, while setting a new distance record for humanity.
The six-hour flyby is the highlight of NASA’s first return to the moon since the Apollo era with three Americans and one Canadian – a step toward landing boot prints near the moon’s south pole in just two years.
First, came a prize – and bragging rights – for Artemis II.
Less than an hour before kicking off the fly-around and intense lunar observations, the four astronauts surpassed the distance record of 400,171 kilometres set by Apollo 13 in April 1970.
They kept going, hurtling ever further from Earth. Before it was all over, Mission Control expected Artemis II to beat the old record by more than 6600 kilometres.
“It is blowing my mind what you can see with the naked eye from the moon right now. It is just unbelievable,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed ahead of the fly-by. He challenged “this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived”.
Moments after breaking Apollo 13’s record, the astronauts asked permission to name two fresh lunar craters already observed. They proposed Integrity, their capsule’s name, and Carroll, in honour of commander Reid Wiseman’s wife, who died of cancer in 2020. Wiseman wept as Hansen put in the request to Mission Control, and all four astronauts embraced in tears.
“Such a majestic view out here,” Wiseman radioed once he regained his composure and started picture-taking. The astronauts called down that they managed to capture the moon and Earth in the same shot, providing a running commentary to scientists back in Houston on what they were seeing.
Pilot Victor Glover noted that some peaks were so bright, they looked as though they were covered in snow. Besides photographing the scenes with high-powered Nikon cameras, the astronauts also pulled out their iPhones for some impromptu shots.
Wiseman, Glover, Hansen and Christina Koch started the momentous day with the voice of Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who recorded a wake-up message just two months before his death last August.
“Welcome to my old neighbourhood,” said Lovell, who also flew on Apollo 8, humanity’s first lunar visit. “It’s a historic day and I know how busy you’ll be, but don’t forget to enjoy the view.”
They took up with them the Apollo 8 silk patch that accompanied Lovell to the moon, and showed it off as the crucial fly-by approached. “It’s just a real honour to have that on board with us,” said Wiseman. “Let’s go have a great day.”
Artemis II is using the same manoeuvre that Apollo 13 did, after its “Houston, we’ve had a problem” oxygen tank explosion wiped out any hope of a moon landing.
Known as a free-return lunar trajectory, this no-stopping-to-land route takes advantage of Earth and the moon’s gravity, reducing the need for fuel. It’s a celestial figure-eight that will put the astronauts on course for home, once they emerge from behind the moon on Tuesday (AEST).
The Artemis II crew ducked behind the moon more than halfway through the lunar flyby. During the 40-minute communication blackout, they made their closest approach to the moon – 6545 kilometres – and reached their maximum distance of 406,771 kilometres from Earth.
They re-established communications just after 9.30am on Tuesday (Australian time), at which point they were homeward-bound. It will take four days to get back with a Pacific splashdown concluding their test flight on Friday.
Their estimated speed at closest approach to the moon: 5052 km/h.
President Donald Trump phoned the astronauts following the flyby, calling them “modern-day pioneers.”
“Today you’ve made history and made all America really proud, incredibly proud,” the president said, adding that more lunar travelling is coming and ultimately “the whole big trip to Mars.”
Wiseman and his crew spent years studying lunar geography to prepare for the big event, adding solar eclipses to their repertoire during the past few weeks. By launching last Wednesday, they secured themselves a total solar eclipse from their vantage point behind the moon, courtesy of the cosmos.
Topping their science target list: Orientale Basin, a sprawling impact basin with three concentric rings, the outermost of which stretches nearly 950 kilometres across.
Other sightseeing goals: the Apollo 12 and 14 landing sites from 1969 and 1971, respectively, as well as fringes of the south polar region, the preferred locale for future touchdowns. Further afield, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn – not to mention Earth – will be visible.
Their moon mentor, NASA geologist Kelsey Young, expects thousands of pictures.
“People all over the world connect with the moon. This is something that every single person on this planet can understand and connect with,” she said on the eve of the fly-by, wearing eclipse earrings.
Artemis II is NASA’s first astronaut moonshot since Apollo 17 in 1972. It sets the stage for next year’s Artemis III, which will see another Orion crew practice docking with lunar landers in orbit around Earth. The culminating moon landing by two astronauts near the moon’s south pole will follow on Artemis IV in 2028.
While Artemis II may be taking Apollo 13’s path, it’s most reminiscent of Apollo 8 and humanity’s first lunar visitors, who orbited the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 and read from the Book of Genesis.
Glover said flying to the moon during Christianity’s Holy Week brought home for him “the beauty of creation”.
Earth is an oasis amid “a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe”, where humanity exists as one, he observed over the weekend.
“This is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing and that we’ve got to get through this together,” Glover said, clasping hands with his crewmates.
AP
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